Chapter Sixty-Four
"Senior Brother, have you ever regretted it?" In Ze You Hall, Gu Jin's low voice suddenly rang out. He looked at Xian Zhu and asked softly, "If given another chance to choose, would you still choose to fall in love with that mortal woman and bring her back to the Immortal Realm?"
Xian Zhu was taken aback, his expression complex. After a long while, he sighed, "You've been to the Palace of Bell and Spirit?"
One of Feng Yin's soul fragments was in the Palace of Bell and Spirit. Since Gu Jin knew about this past event, he must have gone to the Ghost Realm and met Ao Ge.
Gu Jin did not deny it. He raised his head to look at Xian Zhu, "I made the same choice as Senior Brother back then. Even if Ayin only has a hundred years of life essence, I still want to be with her. Moreover, I still have a hundred years. I will definitely find a way to extend her life essence."
Hearing the words "a hundred years," a flicker of pity passed through Xian Zhu's eyes. His lips moved, but he could not bear to speak further.
Upon hearing that Gu Jin had been to the Ghost Realm, Xian Shan, who had been sitting quietly like an old monk in meditation, suddenly stirred and spoke, "A Jin, did you retrieve Feng Yin's soul fragment in the Palace of Bell and Spirit?"
Gu Jin nodded, "There are three of Feng Yin's soul fragments within the phoenix tree in the Palace of Bell and Spirit. His Majesty Ao Ge has already returned her soul fragments to me."
"What did you exchange for it?" Xian Shan cut straight to the point, his voice heavy, "Everyone who has been to the Ghost Realm knows the Ghost King's rules. Back then, your senior brother's life was exchanged for a ten-thousand-year-old phoenix tree that our master begged for on Phoenix Tree Island. Feng Yin's three soul fragments are so important. Given the Ghost King's ways, he would not easily return them to you. What did you exchange for Feng Yin's three soul fragments?"
Xian Zhu did not understand why the Sect Leader, who had just been advising Gu Jin about Ayin, suddenly became concerned about Feng Yin's soul fragments. He was about to steer the conversation back and advise Gu Jin further when he heard Gu Jin's answer.
"Ayin exchanged half of her life essence for Feng Yin's three soul fragments." Gu Jin lowered his eyes, as if with great difficulty, and spoke the answer.
"Half her life essence! You said Ayin exchanged half her life essence for Feng Yin's soul fragments?" Xian Zhu abruptly stood up, finally understanding the deeper meaning behind Xian Shan's question. He hurriedly turned to look at Xian Shan, only to see Xian Shan shake his head at him.
"A Jin." Xian Shan's voice sounded, letting out an almost imperceptible sigh. The sigh was so heavy that even Gu Jin, with his head lowered, sensed a trace of unease.
Hearing Xian Shan call him, Gu Jin raised his head and saw the solemn expression on Xian Shan's face. His heart inexplicably trembled.
"Senior Brother?"
"A Jin, the reason your second senior brother and I oppose your marriage to Ayin is not because Ayin was born lowly, nor because she is a Water Condensation Beast. It is because..." Xian Shan paused before slowly saying, "Her life essence, from the day she was born, has only been ten years."
These words struck like a thunderbolt, shocking Gu Jin beyond measure. He stared blankly at Xian Shan, as if he had not heard clearly, "Sect Leader Senior Brother, what did you say? Ayin... Ayin's life essence is only how long?"
Xian Shan seemed reluctant, but still heavily uttered two words, "Ten years."
Gu Jin's figure trembled, and the color instantly drained from his face. "Senior Brother, you must be mistaken. Even if Ayin is not a Water Condensation Divine Beast but just an ordinary Water Condensation Beast, she should still have several hundred years of life essence. How could it only be ten years? Just yesterday, I consulted rare ancient texts, and they all said..."
"A Jin!" Xian Shan interrupted him, saying gravely, "Before our master ascended, he once said that Ayin would not live past ten years in this lifetime.""Why!" Gu Jin's eyes were filled with absurdity and disbelief. "Why would Master say that? Her body is healthier than anyone else's. How could she not live past ten years?"
"A Jin, aren't you curious? In the Three Realms, aside from Bi Bo who was by the side of the Little Divine Lord Yuan Qi back then, the Water Condensation Beast has been extinct for over sixty thousand years. Why would Ayin be in the Forbidden Valley of our Great Marsh Mountain's back mountain? Have you never wondered about her origins?"
Gu Jin's voice faltered. Since his birth, Bi Bo had been by his side. To him, the Water Condensation Beast was not an extinct and vanished immortal beast, so he had never considered Ayin's origins or background.
Suppressing his emotions, he asked, "Senior Brother, where does Ayin truly come from?"
Xian Shan sighed. "This goes back many years, before our Great Marsh Mountain even existed, when Master was just a minor immortal in the Immortal Realm. Over seventy thousand years ago, a calamity erupted in the Three Realms. Demonic Beasts descended from the Divine Realm and ravaged the Three Realms. Many High Gods descended to the Mortal Realm to battle the Demons. That war dragged on for years, causing heavy casualties. Many divine beast clans were wiped out during this great conflict, and the Water Condensation Beast clan was among them. Although Master was merely a wandering immortal at the time, he could not bear to see the Demonic Beasts slaughter living beings and joined the divine race's war against the Demons. During the conflict, Master fought alongside the Water Condensation Beast clan, and their bond grew strong. However, the Water Condensation Beasts were the weakest in combat among the divine beasts. Before the war even ended, they faced the peril of extinction. After one battle, Master was injured by a black dragon and lost all ability to fight. The last remaining couple of the Water Condensation Beast clan saved him. That couple brought Master to the Forbidden Valley in the back mountain of Great Marsh Mountain to recuperate and entrusted their unhatched child to Master. Master spent several years recovering in the Forbidden Valley. By the time he emerged, the Demonic Beasts had been defeated, and the turmoil in the Three Realms had ceased. But that Water Condensation Beast couple never returned."
"So Ayin's parents entrusted her to Master? No wonder Master accepted her as a nominal disciple as soon as she emerged from the Forbidden Valley." Gu Jin was hearing these tales from tens of thousands of years ago for the first time and couldn't help but be astonished. "Since it was a request from his benefactors, why did Master leave Ayin alone in the Forbidden Valley of the back mountain? And why did he keep her asleep all this time without waking her?"
When he first discovered Ayin in the back mountain, she had already hatched. Although she showed signs of life, she remained in a deep slumber. If he hadn't nourished her daily with his Immortal Power, she would have struggled to awaken on her own.
"Keeping Ayin asleep was the wish of her parents. Master simply respected their love for their child and couldn't bear to wake her. That's why he placed her in the cave of the Forbidden Valley in the back mountain, as that cave was originally the home of that Water Condensation Beast couple—it was her home."
"Why? Wars eventually come to an end. Why would Ayin's parents want her to remain asleep forever?" Even if the Demonic Beasts' havoc had devastated the Three Realms back then, so many years had passed. Why would Ayin's parents prefer her to stay asleep rather than awaken?Xian Shan shook his head, his expression also filled with regret. "It's truly a pity. Back when Ayin's mother was pregnant with her, she was injured by a Demonic Beast. Although she managed to give birth, they discovered that the child's soul power had been tainted by Demonic Qi, making it difficult for her to break out of her shell and survive. Even if she were blessed with heaven-blessed fortune and could break free to see the light of day, she would have at most ten years of life essence. Heartbroken for their child, the couple entrusted Ayin to our master with only one request."
"What request?" Gu Jin asked, horrified, his throat tightening.
"They begged our master to place her in the Forbidden Valley of the back mountain, sealing her away forever. If fate decreed that she could break free from her shell, then that would be the brief life destined for this child. If she could survive, her life's journey would be left entirely to the will of heaven."
Her life's journey, left entirely to the will of heaven.
These eight words were truly both heartbreaking and helpless.
For a life destined to last only ten years, should she be allowed to be born, see the world, and then die, or should she be left to slumber forever, preserving her life in an incomplete state? As parents, they simply could not make that choice.
So they left the child's fate to the heavens. If she was destined to break free from her shell one day, even if only for ten years, they hoped she could live without regrets and with brilliance.
After a long silence, Gu Jin's voice, pained and hoarse, echoed through Ze You Hall.
"Did our master... always know?"
Xian Shan nodded. "At that time, you had just emerged from your punishment in the Forbidden Valley and were still young at heart. Our master feared you wouldn't be able to accept it, so when he ascended, he entrusted me to tell you at the appropriate time. But last night, I discovered..."
Gu Jin recalled how Xian Shan had touched Ayin's forehead in the chaos of the previous night. He suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with panic. "Senior Brother! Ayin, she..."
His voice was urgent and rapid. "You just said she only has ten years of life essence?"
Xian Shan said nothing more, only nodding regretfully.
Ten years of life essence. Ayin had spent four years with Gu Jin at the bottom of the Forbidden Valley in Great Marsh Mountain, half a year accompanying him as he traveled through the Three Realms, and had exchanged five years of her life essence at the Palace of Bell and Spirit to retrieve Feng Yin's Three Soul Fragments. By now, the time she had left was less than a year.
No wonder Xian Shan had kept Ayin's life essence a closely guarded secret. Now, at this critical moment when Great Marsh Mountain needed him so desperately, he revealed Ayin's situation—because Ayin had no time left.
One year. He had thought there were still a hundred years, but Ayin didn't even have one year left!
"Sect Leader Senior Brother."
Gu Jin knelt on one knee before Xian Shan, startling both his senior brothers.
They knew well that in the over a hundred years since Gu Jin had entered the sect, aside from his formal apprenticeship ceremony, he had rarely even bowed to Dong Hua. Dong Hua had even decreed that Gu Jin was exempt from all formalities within the mountain gates. Even if the next Sect Leader were to take office, Gu Jin would not be required to pay homage.
To be honest, in his over a hundred years of cultivation at Great Marsh Mountain, Gu Jin had lived more luxuriously than the princes and princesses of the Heavenly Palace once did.
But now, their junior brother, whom they had watched grow up, knelt before them with red-rimmed eyes, helpless and distraught.
"Sect Leader Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, since you've long known that Ayin only has ten years of life essence, is there a way to save her?"
Xian Shan and Xian Zhu remained silent, both at a loss.Xian Zhu lifted Gu Jin up with both hands. "A Jin, the reason Senior Brother and I have been afraid to tell you is because we don't know how to save Ayin. Life essence is predetermined by heaven. If an immortal beast wishes to break through the shackles of life essence, it must surpass its own limits and transform from immortal to divine—this you already know."
Even immortals and demons have lifespan limits; it's merely that those with profound cultivation live longer. Immortal beasts and demon beasts are the same. In the sixty thousand years of the Three Realms, only two have transformed from beast to god: the High God Gu Jun of Clear Pond Palace and the Demon Emperor Sen Jian. Even the three-headed fire dragon of the Abyssal Marsh, after cultivating for sixty thousand years, only reached the Demigod realm.
Ayin is just an ordinary Water Condensation Beast, and even now only possesses the Immortal Power of a Lower Lord. How could she possibly transform into a divine beast within a year?
Ayin's death is a calamity predetermined from the moment she was born. It's only because those who know cannot bear to expose it that it has been concealed for so long.
Xian Shan and Xian Zhu had wholeheartedly pushed Gu Jin to propose marriage at Hundred Birds Island because they saw how deeply he cared for Ayin. They thought that if he had someone he loved, he wouldn't be too devastated when Ayin eventually passed away.
Who would have thought that after all their efforts—even turning a blind eye to Hua Shu taking the Sky-Shielding Umbrella to bring the two together—A Jin would still fall for this Water Condensation Beast he had raised himself.
Some things are truly fated, and no one can break them.
"A Jin, let your Second Senior Brother and I light the Nine Star Lantern. These days, you should stay in the mountain and spend time with Ayin."
Xian Shan sighed heavily, patting Gu Jin's shoulder. In the eyes of this ten-thousand-year-old deity, there was a transcendent understanding of life and death.
"Life and death are fated; everything is predetermined. You must learn to accept it."
Under his gaze, Gu Jin opened his mouth but was too bewildered to utter a word, his lips trembling uncontrollably and turning pale.
Unable to bear the sight, Xian Shan turned and walked out of Ze You Hall. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Gu Jin.
This little junior brother, whom he had practically raised himself, stood with downcast eyes, filled with desolation. His thin and lonely silhouette slowly overlapped with the figure from twenty thousand years ago.
He glanced up and saw Xian Zhu standing beside Gu Jin. Xian Zhu was also looking at him, filled with guilt and empathy for Gu Jin, yet utterly helpless.
Could it be that all destinies and outcomes would still be the same as twenty thousand years ago?
The scene was stretched long and heavy by the morning sun outside the hall, so much so that even Xian Shan, a forty-thousand-year-old deity, could not bear it.
Suddenly, he spoke.
"A Jin, before our master ascended, he left one more message for me to tell you."
These words seemed to break the suffocating curse within the hall.
Gu Jin suddenly looked up at Xian Shan, a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"Master said that the Water Condensation Beasts are already extinct. Ayin has no family or kin left. In the Three Realms, the only one who might share some blood ties with her is likely Bi Bo, the Water Condensation Divine Beast who once served by the side of the Little Divine Lord Yuan Qi. If you can find him, perhaps Ayin still has a sliver of hope."
Before Xian Shan had even finished speaking, Gu Jin's eyes lit up with the joy of rebirth. He hastily bowed to Xian Shan and flew out of Ze You Hall without a moment's hesitation.
Watching him fly toward the Qi Moon Hall in the back mountain, Xian Zhu stepped forward and asked, "Sect Leader Senior Brother, last time I heard A Jin mention that they encountered Divine Lord Yuan Qi's divine beast Bi Bo at Purple Moon Mountain. Does that mean Ayin still has a sliver of hope?""Perhaps. Master only left these words. Whether Ayin can be saved will depend on fate as well."
Seeing Xian Shan's expression, a trace of unease and doubt stirred in Xian Zhu's heart. He hesitated before asking, "Senior Brother, why didn't you tell me earlier that Master left these words? If we had known sooner, we would have sent A Jin to Purple Moon Mountain to find Bi Bo long ago."
Xian Shan did not answer. He gazed at Gu Jin's figure disappearing into the sky and let out a slow sigh.
The morning sun bathed every corner of Great Marsh Mountain's peaks, illuminating this Immortal Sect that had existed for over sixty thousand years.
Dong Hua was the most ancient Immortal Lord in the Three Realms. His immortal arts were profound, and his virtue was deep, yet few knew that he was also well-versed in the principles of fate.
Some calamities he could foresee, but even if he could foresee them, he did not know whether they should be prevented.
Exchanging the peril of a mountain for the life of one person.
Which weighed heavier: the profound kindness of sixty thousand years ago or the mountain sect of sixty thousand years later?
That Divine Lord, who had lived longer than the Three Realms themselves, entrusted the decision to his most trusted disciple at the moment of his Ascension.
"Xian Zhu." Xian Shan looked toward the bright mountains and flowing streams before him and called out to Xian Zhu.
"Senior Brother?"
"Light the Nine Star Lantern. With Master gone, it falls upon us to protect Great Marsh Mountain."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
Following his gaze, Xian Zhu looked at Great Marsh Mountain, tinted by the morning sun, and finally revealed a relieved smile at the corner of his mouth.
"I hope that little ancestor of Ayin's will have a way to save her."
May the regrets of twenty thousand years ago not repeat themselves with A Jin and Ayin. May they have the chance to walk together, side by side.
The two old deities, who had lived for tens of thousands of years, stood beneath Ze You Hall, watching the departing figure and thinking just that.
Many years later, Gu Jin, who had become Pu Yan, never knew that his two senior brothers had once watched his retreating figure on that day, offering such sincere and simple prayers and blessings for him and Ayin.
It was only a pity that, in the blink of a thousand years, this moment was swallowed by the relentless flow of time in the Three Realms, never to be known by anyone.
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